PetPremium was founded to help pet owners manage their pet expenses in 2013. Underwritten by the Fairmont Specialty Insurance Agency, Inc.

Coverage

PetPremium has two types of coverage plans: Accidents-only and Total Coverage. Within the accidents-only plan, there are different options for deductibles and reimbursements, ongoing conditions, accidents, alternative therapies and preventive care. Under the total coverage plan, there are also a range of deductibles and reimbursement levels, everything the accident plan covers plus illnesses, congenital conditions and behavioral treatments.

In most states, you can add on preventive care and get reimbursed up to an annual amount for certain types of care. You do not have to meet your deductible or satisfy your reimbursement percentage to take advantage of this type of care, and the costs range from $9.95 to $24.95 per month.

There are also different levels for their Preventive Care Options

The levels are called Basic, Standard and Prime, coming in at $9.95, $14.95 and $24.95 a month respectively. There are varying annual maximums for a wide variety of treatments including dental cleanings, wellness exams, vaccinations, fecal tests, heartworm tests, deworming, flea and heartworm prevention, urinalysis and more. According to their chart, you can save anywhere from $130 to $200 annually if you pay the monthly premiums and take advantage of all of their care options. These preventive care riders are a way to combine wellness care with traditional pet insurance that is mostly for emergencies.

With the Preventive care options, these are straight-up reimbursement, so they do not apply to your deductible, nor do you have to meet your deductible for them to get paid. Simple schedule a service with a licensed vet and they will pay the pre-agreed upon amount. So, make sure you check with the vet on their pricing, and check with your policy documents or the PetPremium website so you know your financial responsibility going in.

Limits

PetPremium does have annual limits of $2,500 all the way up to unlimited, depending on your monthly rate and plan. Remember to account for any unexpected vet visit – these can be upwards of $10,000 at times, so a low annual limit, while the monthly payment will be lower, may not help you in the end.

The good news about PetPremium is that the monthly premium does not change (at least according to our test quote we filled out online) whether you have a $3000 annual limit or unlimited, and if you raise your deductible, the premium only goes up or down about ten dollars a month. This allows you to get the most coverage possible without really altering your monthly cost. It seems they figure out the cost mostly on the size and age of your pet, rather then how you alter the offerings once you pick the plan.

Deductibles

PetPremium has deductibles from $100, $250 or $500. Once you meet your deductible, your reimbursement will kick in based on your actual vet bill.

In our test quote, we checked the difference in our monthly premium by changing our deductible, and only saw our quoted amount change by about ten dollars a month. Deductibles work a little differently in the pet insurance industry than they do in say, healthcare or auto insurance. With pet insurance, you are responsible for the full bill at the time of your visit, and then you will get reimbursed, less the deductible. With other types of insurance, they pay for the bill after you pay the deductible, so you still have to have money to put out up front with pet insurance. Some pet insurance companies are changing the way they pay claims, but as of now, PetPremium still operates under this premise.

Reimbursements

You can elect your reimbursement percentage with PetPremium at 70%, 80% and 90%. Reimbursements are the amount of your actual vet bill that will be paid by the company. For example, if your bill is $1000, and you have a 70% reimbursement, you will be paid an estimated $700, assuming you have met your deductible. If you haven’t met your deductible, you will need to meet that first before you are paid back on your claim. This is pretty standard practice in the pet insurance arena and PetPremium does not differ too much here.

Claims

Claims can be processed via fax, mail or email. You can download a claim form online, and all you need to process the claim is to add general information about the claim, diagnosis and symptom information, and to sign a pet owner declaration. Once you submit your claim, you can keep track of its progress in the PetPremium member center online.

Reviews

According to the PetPremium website, customers thought the website could have been more clear and the monthly rate cheaper, but overall found customer service helpful via phone and found the policy pretty straightforward.

Other Facts

PetPremium does a lot of work with the community and also help you if you are looking for a new puppy by explaining how to choose the right breed and breeders.

They are branching out into new areas, matching puppies to owners with some new software they are testing out. Look for new and exciting things with these companies coming soon.

You can add wellness care at three different levels, Basic, Standard or Prime. For our purposes, we added Standard at $14.95 per month.

Standard Poodle Quote

All told, we put together a quote for ‘Bob,’ our standard poodle and with the highest level of coverage, Standard wellness care, a $7,000 annual limit and $250 annual deductible and 80 percent reimbursement rate, our monthly premium is at $63.46. This means our annual commitment to PetPremium would be $761.52. Considering that a visit to the vet, even for something as simple as eating grapes can cost upwards of $500, this seems like a good value to us.

Yorkshire Terrier Quote

We wanted to do a quote for a smaller dog, too, to see if there were any differences, so we did a quote for a two-year-old Yorkshire Terrier with no existing health concerns.

The insurance monthly premium for our smaller dog comes in a good amount cheaper, with the same higher level of coverage, Standard wellness care, a $7,000 annual limit, $250 deductible and 80% reimbursement, giving us a monthly premium of $45.49 and annual commitment of $545.88. We know from experience that it is often more expensive to own a larger dog than a smaller dog, in terms of hip issues, things they eat and get into and sheer size/life expectancy, so and this quote tells us we are right.

Billing

PetPremium also has a variety of options for billing. You can pay monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually. You can also add additional pets for a ten percent discount.

Reviews

PetPremium reviews online range from people who have had great experiences to those who didn’t get the coverage they were hoping for. All in all, people seem happy with PetPremium, and issues they face are the same they would face with any insurer with a pet with pre-existing conditions or older age.

It’s hard to tell online which reviews are legitimate and which are not, so as a consumer and responsible pet owner, it is crucial that you do your own research and above all, read the fine print of any policy.